Following the death in Israeli custody of a Palestinian hunger striker from the Islamic Jihad faction, Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza on Tuesday, an AFP journalist witnessed.
Following the death of Khader Adnan, a leading figure in the occupied West Bank within the Islamic Jihad militant group, “sirens sounded in the area of kibbutz Saad” close to the Gaza border, the Israeli military said in a statement.
A Palestinian hunger striker died in Israeli custody Tuesday, nearly three months after being detained over his ties to the Islamic Jihad militant group.
The death of Khader Adnan was swiftly followed by rocket fire by Gaza militants, which the Israeli army said “fell in open areas” without causing any casualties or damage.
Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh described the death of Adnan, who was arrested in the occupied West Bank, as a “deliberate assassination”.
“By rejecting his request for his release, neglecting him medically and keeping him in his cell, despite the seriousness of his health condition,” the premier said in a statement.
Israel’s prison service announced the death of a detainee who was affiliated to Islamic Jihad.
He was “found early this morning in his cell unconscious,” the prison service said in a statement.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Adnan, 45, was the first Palestinian to die as a direct result of a hunger strike.
Other Palestinian detainees have died “as a result of attempts to force feed them,” according to the director of the advocacy group, Qaddura Faris.
In protest to Adnan’s death, Palestinians observed a countrywide strike in West Bank cities.
